A bibliometric evaluation of the impact of theories of consciousness in academia and on social media

Yeung, Andy Wai Kan; Cushing, Cody; Lee, Alan

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2022.103296

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…However, a recent bibliometric evaluation of consciousness theories showed that approximately 3-9 of the citations were based on testing ground. The authors reported that out of five considered theories (global workspace, higher order, integrated information, local recurrent and quantum theories), the IIT had the highest increase in publication and citation count (Yeung et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-organized criticality as a framework for consciousness: A review study

Walter

Hinterberger

2022

Front. Psychol.

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ObjectiveNo current model of consciousness is univocally accepted on either theoretical or empirical grounds, and the need for a solid unifying framework is evident. Special attention has been given to the premise that self-organized criticality (SOC) is a fundamental property of neural system. SOC provides a competitive model to describe the physical mechanisms underlying spontaneous brain activity, and thus, critical dynamics were proposed as general gauges of information processing representing a strong candidate for a surrogate measure of consciousness. As SOC could be a neurodynamical framework, which may be able to bring together existing theories and experimental evidence, the purpose of this work was to provide a comprehensive overview of progress of research on SOC in association with consciousness.MethodsA comprehensive search of publications on consciousness and SOC published between 1998 and 2021 was conducted. The Web of Science database was searched, and annual number of publications and citations, type of articles, and applied methods were determined.ResultsA total of 71 publications were identified. The annual number of citations steadily increased over the years. Original articles comprised 50.7% and reviews/theoretical articles 43.6%. Sixteen studies reported on human data and in seven studies data were recorded in animals. Computational models were utilized in n = 12 studies. EcoG data were assessed in n = 4 articles, fMRI in n = 4 studies, and EEG/MEG in n = 10 studies. Notably, different analytical tools were applied in the EEG/MEG studies to assess a surrogate measure of criticality such as the detrended fluctuation analysis, the pair correlation function, parameters from the neuronal avalanche analysis and the spectral exponent.ConclusionRecent studies pointed out agreements of critical dynamics with the current most influencing theories in the field of consciousness research, the global workspace theory and the integrated information theory. Thus, the framework of SOC as a neurodynamical parameter for consciousness seems promising. However, identified experimental work was small in numbers, and a heterogeneity of applied analytical tools as a surrogate measure of criticality was observable, which limits the generalizability of findings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-organized criticality as a framework for consciousness: A review study

Walter

Hinterberger

2022

Front. Psychol.

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“…The statement reflects the recognition that we have a problem within our field that can no longer be resolved by conventional scientific discourse. We have already exhausted the more intellectual and diplomatic means to contain potentially dangerous public misinformation 8,23,[27][28][29][30] , and unfortunately, we have failed. To those who think we should focus on the science: we already did [4][5][6][7][8] .…”

Section: Defining Pseudosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concern is that it is already false to characterize IIT, a panpsychist theory, as being empirically tested at all in a meaningful way, as Cogitate does in the preprint 9 . Characterizing IIT as one of the top two leading theories, and a well-established one, as they do in the preprint, is also problematic 23,28,38 .…”

Section: Cogitatementioning

confidence: 99%

What is a Pseudoscience of Consciousness? Lessons from Recent Adversarial Collaborations

Lau

2023

Preprint

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Some colleagues have questioned about our recent joint statement (Fleming et al 2023), so I try to address them here, as well as to provide some background. I also discuss what I think really went wrong with the recent adversarial collaboration on testing theories of consciousness (ARC-Cogitate), which has in part led to the statement. In a previous open review I already discussed the scientific content of their recent preprint. Here I focus on the institutional context, from my own personal perspective, as someone familiar with both the project itself and several other related (ongoing) projects in the field. There are issues that concern more than the subfield of consciousness science alone; advocates of open science, cognitive neuroscience, and theories in neurobiology in general may also benefit from some awareness of these problems, as they may end up spreading to and reflecting badly on the broader scientific community - if we do not make an effort to address them together.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the preparation of this study, some other articles with similar or related aims have been published (Del Pin et al, 2021; Yaron et al, 2022; Yeung et al, 2022). While Del Pin et al’s (2021) focus is on “how to,” that is, the methodology of comparative analysis, and Yeung et al (2022) concentrate on public acceptance of theories, only Yaron et al’s (2022) work is similar to ours. However, as there are still differences useful for researchers of consciousness to pick up from the Yaron et al and our present report and because in such type of meta-analytic research converging evidence must be of value, we believe some parallelness can be excused.…”

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confidence: 99%

A comparative analysis of empirical theories of consciousness.

Promet¹,

Bachmann²

2024

Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice

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The search for the neural correlates of consciousness has brought many theories of consciousness with it. The abundance of theories points to the need to examine the empirical background supporting each particular theory. This research identified the most common theories of consciousness (global neuronal workspace theory [GNWT], integrated information theory [IIT], and predictive processing) and the most widely used experimental paradigms in consciousness research: masking, filling-in, ambiguous figures, dichotic listening, tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, binocular rivalry, attentional blink, inattentional blindness, change blindness, biological motion, phosphenes, no-report paradigm, the effect of expectations on perception, and ensemble perception. The selected theories and the underlying neurobiology were reviewed and the extent to which the theories have been supported by experiments using the selected experimental paradigms was investigated through a systematic search. Forty-one empirical articles were found in support of GNWT, 36 in support of predictive processing, and three in support of IIT. Different theories mostly used different experimental paradigms and partly different measuring instruments, which somewhat restricts the theories when aspiring for universality. The possible impact of these differences on the generalizability of theories is presented in the discussion, and the results are compared (a) with other empirical works not specifically targeted here and (b) with a similar systematic review.

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A bibliometric evaluation of the impact of theories of consciousness in academia and on social media

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Self-organized criticality as a framework for consciousness: A review study

Self-organized criticality as a framework for consciousness: A review study

What is a Pseudoscience of Consciousness? Lessons from Recent Adversarial Collaborations

A comparative analysis of empirical theories of consciousness.

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